Any talk of Australian body imports these days?

What with the AUS$ taking a total and complete shit over the past few months like it has, I was wondering if anyone has been looking at importing repop bodies from Australia again. I've always heard great things about the quality of glass bodies from down there, Rod Bods by Elvis being most notable. I seem to recall that Limeworks was bringing them in?
If the trend continues like it looks like it will (sorry, all of you down in Oz!) then it should be worth our money to have them shipped up again pretty soon. At current currency exchange rates, US$6100 for a complete (and VERY nice) '32 Coupe glass body sounds pretty tempting to me even if shipping would be a couple grand. Hell- I'd even take the cash out of my 401k for one- might as well have a good body on my frame as have the shit sit in a money market account at 4% interest!

 

You also should look at Deuce Customs bodies they cost around the same and are good quality here is the web address www.deucecustoms.com.au I know he sends a lot of them to the USA

 

I wanted one of those Thames that Limeworks was importing!

 

Heh- funny you should mention that, I've got the Deuce Customs page up on the other monitor right now Thanks for reminding me about Deuce, I could only remember Elvis. Looks like the price is comparable, I'll fire an email off to them as well.
I've been trying to plan another trip down your way- guess I'll just have to put that on the front burner so I can check them out in person.
Thanks, Cragar!

 

Keep your money in the 401k. Its buying double the stock with employer matching, cant beat that if it goes up. Better in the long run and if it all takes a giant poo, it dosent mater what you do or did with your money.Hahahaha

 

Actually I just now got a reply from Rodbods by Elvis- Kiwi Konnection is their importer YAY. Their '32 Tudor body is AUS$9800 which works out to be $6300 in real money.
Kiwi K is advertising '32 roadster bodies 'from $7000' Guess I'll have to fire off an email to him and see what he can do for a Tudor!

http://www.kiwikonnection.org/Bodies.html

 

And for anyone that HAS to have steel; the Aussies are doing steel 34 Phaeton and Ute bodies.
You might check to see if CW Moss is still importing them.

http://www.roadsterute.com/index5.htm

 

I agree with you Steve, I have my 32 3W which I put on the road 2 years ago and have pounded out nearly 15K miles, over some some real shitty roads all over Oz.

Not one crack, delam, chip or problem. Ken builds a very good body, the body's lines are sharp and detail level is good as is fit and finish, door gaps, steelout/reinforcement is better, etc.

I like what Elvis does for a body, but not just quite the level of Ken's in the above criteria. Seen bodies from Elvis where the glass is just not uniform in thickness. Also, Elvis's bodies don't have a removable trans tunnel or toe board - they are integral with the floor so accessibility is limited.

Don't get me wrong, I like Elvis's product too...and kudos to him for having the balls to have a go and provide an alternative product for us, its just that DC's seem to be made just that little bit better and they have stood the test of time IMO.

Rat

 

X38 a friend of mine just brought a CW 32 3 window coupe from good mate of the owner of CW and if they were the only body you could buy I would not have one it has only done 1900 kms and has more cracks than a plumbers convention the doors drop the door skin is coming a way from the frame and CW also built the chassis and put the steering box in wrong now the motor is out to cut the steering box mount out and reweld in the right way to stop it bump steering . This friend of mine is a big guy and is flying from Vic to Qld to take it up with CW s shortly

 

Hmmm......

Rat

 

My new body is a Vic O neal body and I have only had it on the road for two weeks and I steeled it out myself and I was very happy with it through the whole build

 

Just picked up an Elvis roadster body on monday while down in So-cal.
It had been sittin for about a year and 1/2 @ Bob White's California Customs and Classics (Fontana)
Nice piece !

 

da34guy,

Its Elvis here please keep us updated on the roadsters progress

 

Howdy Ian, do an intro where you're supposed to.

 

Well i have and built a rod bod 3 window form
kiwi k
I have 3 k on it and it looks good. I made the windshild swing out like stock.
Took some time but looks killer to me
And I like to call it a NONRUST body!!!
Dave

 

Elvis----Sum progress pics as requested
Do you still have those other 2 bodies in Bako?

 

Think those were from the UK

 

Kilbourne rod shop makes a real nice 32 five window coupe that is chopped and channeled and on a deuce frame for $6500.00. They are made right here in Illinois outside of Peoria,Il. We just built one that is a 32 roadster with a Ford v10. They have an all steel inner structure so the fiberglass is only a skin. The doors and trunk come pre hung and you get the deuce frame setup any way you want. I worked for Mitchs hot rod shop before opening my own hotrod shop and we would build an average of 5 32 Kilbourne bodied cars a year.
www.kilbournerodshop.com Doug isnt showing the 5 window coupe but it is available as he just started making them with all new molds.
www.Uniquecoaches.com if you want to see the 32 roadster from gelcoat to finished car.

 

I think those were supplied by Classical Gas in Costa Mesa. Also if Limeworks doesn't have them, try John West at Dan Fink Metalworks in Huntington Beach. I am pretty sure he had them too.

 

If I can fill some people in, I am not trying to be critical or synical just letting you all know what I do. I have be building fibreglass bodies and chassis for over 20 years, the last 10 as Rod Bods. When I decided to go into full production I looked at things a little diferent so I looked at what was on the market and worked out I had to equal or better what was being supplied, being a qualified fibreglasser and always using the best affordable materials on the market I worked out a long time ago that fibreglass sticks to fibreglass better than fibreglass to steel thats why I produce the bodies with a full fibreglass floor and built in toeboards. This also makes the body just as pretty and smooth underneath as it is on top. I have always hand-laid all my own products in house, we do not use a chopper gun as hand laying is a more consistant lay-up therefore a stronger lay-up. When preparing to build a body from a mould I allow one man one day to prepare and align the mould, I have staggered bolts in the flanges of my moulds where he can he runs his fingernails across the joins of the moulds if there is a mis-alignment he then can ajust the bolts and align the two sides, on this action alone I can guarantee less work for paint than what is being built by the oppositions. In steeling our bodies out in our 3 Window Coupe there is over 48 metres of steel. After putting the steel into the bodies we then incase some of the steel in fibreglass also fattening the flloor, incasing the steel straps that run above the chassis rails into the floor, making the floor area where you feet and under seat anywhere between 10 to 12 mm thick, we take a lot of time in steeling and aligning the doors and trunk. We also go one step further than the oppositions and use aluminium trunk hinges which have been laser cut and not just a bent piece of steel again like the oppositions. In the doors I also use a US spring loaded unit for the closed cars, this unit allows me to use a standard external door handle with no alterations to the square shaft, also guarantees your door handle never to sag. Also our 32 range we offer with exposed hinges, these have been reproduced to an exact copy of the originals, as another option as well we offer a working cowl vent which can be removed and replaced with an orginal Henry Ford Product if desired. By doing all the above in-house I have always been able to quality control the whole process, thus being able to bring into the equation one of my favourite words at Rodbods "Consistancy". by doing all the above under the one roof modifiying or one-off bodies has never been a hard task to handle. We have two chassis jigs working all the time, one is dedicated purely to 1932 Ford, the other is a multi fit that we can do just about anything in. In closing I have never really worried about what the oppositions are doing other than to make sure that the products that Rod Bods Downunder Produce still run along the same lines as the orginal thought that we have to equal or better what is available on the market.

PS: My two dealers in America are Kiwi Konnections at Bakersfield CA and Limeworks speedshop in Whittier CA.

Yours in rodding

Elvis

 

Elvis ---- Very well stated
I can say that after being @ this for over 40 years and using everyone's body out there,
I.E. wescott,downs,harwood,kilborne,bear, n&n just to name a few,
Rod Bods is in the upper 10% for quality, fit and finish.
The rod bod I'm doing right now is the 18th build I've done in the last 4 years and I would surely buy another.
Thanx for the great stuff Elvis

 

I built a car with the Rod Bod from Elvis as sold through Limeworks (32 3 window). I felt the fit and finish was second to none, until I tried to put the side glass in the doors. I had ordered it set up for stock type window regulators and unfortunately when they built the inner window tracks and put the doors together there wasn't enough room to get the glass in and clear the regulator. We ended up having to cut apart the inner frame work, spreading it, and re weld it - all this after the car was painted! We finally got it where we could get glass to go up and down but not with the stock regulators, had to use power, which we weren't too happy about. On top of that the window garnish wouldn't fit without hitting the glass so that had to be clearanced also.
There were also some air pockets in the fiberglass under the rear window above the trunk and after it was painted and set in the sun they popped and we had to grind down that area, fill them and re paint it. Not too happy there either.
All that said, we did feel it was a very straight and good looking body with accurate lines to an original.

 

I was interested in knowing how the Duece Customs '36 Ford roadster body compares to the Donaldson, any first hand knowledge Thanks, Lon

 

Well i built a elvis 3 window and got the glass in fine
. I did cut the inside trim to fit the way i wanted it to. And i have hand crank up windows.
Onlt thing i did not care for was how high the trans tunel was. I cut it and moved it down 5 inchs and got a lot more foot room.
But hey making it your way is what hot rods are all about.
Thanks ELVIS for a good job.
I think they will install side glass for you if you pay him for it

Dave

 

Magoos Street Rods in New Zealand, www.magoos.co.nz are another source. Excellent quality and with a number of features not included in the cheaper options. They do a roadster and a 3 window coupe. With our dollar tracking below usd 0.55 at the moment it might make sence too...

 

When I couldn't get it to go in I took the car to The Glass House where they have been doing rod glass since 1985, not to mention Pebble Beach winning cars. Mike was unable to get glass to work in it either. We realized that the lower channels in the doors were not in alignment with the upper window opening. as I stated this required cutting the door inner structure apart and spreading the pieces until everything would somewhat line up. it's still not perfect but you can't tell and it would have required cutting more of the door apart and repainting to go any further.
A friend of mine recently got one of these bodies also and his look like they are going to have the same problem, only not quite as bad. He will fit the glass before painting
Glad yours worked out fine.
My tunnel on the other hand I thought was fine height wise, don't think it's too high and is pretty close to my bellhousing.

 

The trouble with having a built-in tunnel is the old one-size-its-all thingy. Naturally the size is usually generous for this reason.

Alan Borserio (sp?) has the nicest built versions of the 36 roadster I've seen. Google may turn it up, sorry, can't find a pic myself. Body is same quality + features as other Deuce Customs work.

 

I have a Deuce Customs 36 roadster body, I can't compare it to the Donaldson, but I can't fault this one. It's based on the 5W coupe, so there is enough room in it to make a 4 seater (if your'e a short bastard like me).

 

Plastic is plastic, even if it has a funny accent.

 

Has anyone bought directly from Elvis? I am interested in a 3 window, but Kiwi priced theirs at 10,250.00 with a windshield frame (He has 1 in stock)...and I haven't heard back from Limeworks as of yet...The current exchange rate puts these bodies around 6300.00...
sam